Harmony In Maple World
by CatDemonMastema
Summary: Lotus is getting frusterated because of what Gelimer did to Orchid, Lotus manages to get her body back, but with a horrifying new strength. In the midst of her fear and sorrow Luminous, the hero's, and some new friends step in to save her, but can Luminous earn Lotus's trust enough to save her? This odd pair with need to seek help from both sides and unexpected places.
1. Harmony in Maple World Chapter 1

_**[I do not own Maplestory or any of the characters in the game itself, all original property belongs to Nexon. Only my own OC characters belong to me, All Rights Reserved.]**_

Chapter 1 – A lonely Spirit

Lotus sat silently on top of the statue at the Temple of Time where Pink Bean usually resides at, thinking about the past. She had over heard from travelers and the other commanders what Gelimer had done to Orchid, Lotus was at a loss on how to feel about it, so many emotions swirled around in her ghostly heart and for the first time in hundreds of years, she felt powerless and pathetic.

"_How could I have let this happen, the one time Orca really needed me and I'm stuck in this state..."_ Lotus sighed and shook her head, she was so mixed up feeling inside. It felt like she was stuck in an endless whirlpool of anger, fear, sadness, and regret, there wasn't a thing for her to feel happiness over anymore. She knew Orchid wasn't dead, thinking of that she looked out at the sunset and scowled _"Yea, as if that crazy old coot could actually ever kill Orca" _Lotus hated the very idea of Gelimer using her own body to attack and leave Orchid for dead, it pissed her off to no end that he would use such a cheap trick to gain an advantage over Orchid then turn on her as quickly as he had, but there was nothing she could do about that now, it was over long since nights passed. "_What am I going to do now? Should I just swallow my pride/fear and go back to orchid and ask If I can join the resistance or..." _Her though process was disrupted when a maple leaf blew right through her, she remembered she was bodiless and that Orchid probably couldn't even see her any longer, or if she would even want to after all this. "_The only one who seems to be able to see me is that damn eyesore Phantom" _Lotus clenched a fist thinking about it, he was the reason she was in this state to begin with, _"He probably didn't even love Aria anyways, he's such a freak, he's always hitting on girls, who would even believe he ever __**actually**__ loved her anyways?"_

Lotus quietly got up and set out for the forest near Elluel, it was always peaceful and beautiful there the mere sight of it put her mind and heart at ease, and since Mercedes couldn't see her (from what she could tell) it was alright for her to relax and take it easy on the outskirts of the Elven Kingdom. Lotus had noticed a book covered in mud while she was going through the forest to her usual resting spot. She picked it up and seen that it was a very old book, the pages seemed worn from the weather and earth, Lotus was admiring the book before she noticed the title labeled _**"Secrets of the World Soul". **_Lotus was taken aback by the title, but she opened it anyways and started to read the contents of the book, it was in an odd language and the contents page was worn out for the most part but still readable.__Lotus then cast a spell on herself and carefully put the book into one of her cloak pockets.

"_Im sure Will or Arkarium will like this book, but it doesn't seem interesting to me, I should take it to Will first though, Arkarium is kind of a jerk... plus I don't really like him."_ Lotus said as she turned around and got ready to head back out of the forest but, she was stopped dead in her tracks. Right in front of her, literally, was a revolting Phantom leading a beautiful young lady through the forest up towards the waterfall just above Elluel. _"That disgusting roach... dares cross path with me and spoil the beauty of this forest?" _Lotus was disgusted, she watched him pass by with the lady before storming off to Will's home.


	2. Ch1: Page 2

Lotus reached the forest in which Will's home was located, which ironically was right underneath Mirror world, if it could be visible from Maple world anyways. Lotus stopped to take in the view before heading into the forest. There where mountains on every side of the forest, and the forest itself seemed to be glowing a splendid gold in the evening light with a few rivers running through it forming a small lake at the base of the mountain. The view took Lotus's breath away as she looked over it, but she snapped back to reality and reminded herself what she was doing there to begin with, she slowly ascended into the forest and walked beside one of the rivers until she reached the lake, and on the other side of it was an open area and a house, Lotus floated over the water with ease and reached the clearing. _"If it's one thing I'm grateful for, its that I can hover over things as a ghost!"_ Lotus smiled with triumph as she walked up to the house and opened the door without knocking. "Nice to see you Lotus, but you could at least knock next time rather then barging in unannounced." Will said looking up with surprise, Lotus noticed it was more the shock that someone actually came this far out to his home rather then that someone just barged in, Will's home was exactly what she was expecting, full of books on magic/history and also full of cobwebs and spiders. _"Will, I found this book over in Elluel, it looked like something that would interest you more then me so I brought it to you." _Lotus pulled the book out of her cloak and gave it to him, Will took the book and with and looked at it before staring back up at her in silence for a few moments.

"_This... may be what you need to return to your body Lotus" _Will said after a few brief moments of staring at the book quietly, Lotus stood dumbfounded staring at the book then with a shaking voice, almost at a whisper, _"Are you for real Will?... This book has what I need?"_ Will looked up from it and noticed Lotus was on the brink of tears. He placed the book down and looked at Lotus with amusement in his eyes at her reaction to what he said, _"Well, didn't you read it before handing it to me, or did you assume it was some kind of history book?" _Will picked it up and set the book on a shelf near him before facing Lotus again. _"This book explains the body and souls connection, it may have a weird title but the world itself is lined with life energy that supports that connection." _Will lifted his glassed further up his face before making a gesture with his hand for lotus to sit down, _"See Lotus, the body and soul are connected as a single being even though they're separate. In other words, Gelimer's brainwashing your body will eventually reach you to, but... with that in mind, if we where to put a memory locking spell on you it would correct your body upon entering it again." _Lotus gaped at the idea, she was astounded yet angry that Will knew this already and never said anything.

"_So... I can return to normal completely then?"_ Lotus asked hopeful that he would say yes. Will looked at her as if he was attempting to word what he was about to say in his mind before speaking, this made Lotus's heart sink slightly but she kept hope. _"No, I'm afraid anything else Gelimer did to your body will remain the same Lotus, any power ups he gave to you... that won't change I'm afraid." _Will stared at Lotus with curiosity as she took in the information he just gave her. Lotus got up from her seat and looked Will in the eye's before speaking, _"Do it then" _Lotus remained calm expression wise while her tone hinted threat, but this didn't phase Will since he was stronger then her. _"Alright then, Meet me back at the conference room tomorrow then Lotus, you need to bring something you hold dear to you though."_ Will chimed before getting up and smiling at Lotus.

"_Something I hold dear to me?" _Lotus was confused but tried not to show it, Will caught onto it anyways despite Lotus's attempt to hide it though. _"Yes, something you hold dear to you Lotus, maybe something orchid gave to you, or a picture of your family...something that's important to you." _Lotus didn't like this idea, but she sighed and agreed to it, if she could be with her sister again, then no item or possession was worth more to her then that love and company she had been missing and longing for, for so long.


	3. Ch2: Never Changing Love, Fearful Power

Chapter 2: Never Changing Love, and Fearful Power

Lotus went back to the forest near Elluel and up towards the waterfall, making sure no one was around she slowly made her way down to a narrow ledge and into a cave that was hidden by the waterfall. Finding let alone entering the cave would have been extremely dangerous to most, but as a ghost the waterfall and ledge didn't even phase lotus since she couldn't be hurt by such things in the state she was in. Lotus levitated to a dark corner of the cave where a very old desk was located next to a pile of large rocks and stones, Lotus had used the stones to make a couch like figure that she slept on, and the desk was already there when she first discovered the cave, she assumed someone before her had lived there in the past. She looked at the desk where her most treasured item rested, a doll that she, Orchid, and their mother had made together when they where both 5 years old, "Tomorrow... tomorrow we can finally be together again Orca." Lotus lied down on the couch like figure and fell into a deep slumber. Her dreams where of the childhood she and Orchid shared, she could clearly see their mother and father playing with them in the fields near their old home, but then Balrog showed up and destroyed their home, her memories of their mother and father telling them to run and not look back while their parents tried bravely to protect them as they ran away, the cost of that bravery was their lives though. Lotus woke up in tears in her eye's, slowly getting up and grabbing the doll, Lotus set out of the cave and started her trip to the conference room where the commanders always held their meetings at. It was a tall dark tower that floated above the ground, the only way to reach it was by using magic to get there, when Lotus got there Will and some of the others where already there getting ready for what was about to happen, Hilla came rushing through the doors carrying Lotus's body and laughing at how easy it was to beat Gelimer. Lotus was a bit confused as to why Hilla was left with that job but excited none the less, she could finally be with her beloved little sister again, nothing meant more to her then that.

"_So are you ready Lotus?" _Will asked her as he turned to her, _"We're pretty much done here, all we need is for Hilla to shut up and put your body over here and for you to stand next to it holding the item you brought."_ Hilla scoffed at Will's remark, _"Well, at least "I'm" not overly attached to some stupid insect that deserves to be squashed."_ Hilla held her head up high with a threatening glint in her eye's that made Will recoil back instead of commenting again. Instead Von Leon stepped up and told Lotus to stand in the circle they had created using magic, he ordered Hilla to put the body next to it, in which she did without question. "Alright Lotus, hold the item you brought close to your heart and close your eye's" Von said in a deep voice, Lotus did as Von said to, she took the doll and held it close to her heart and closed her eyes and waited silently for what was next. _"Hilla, do your thing now, you know what needs done." _ Von Leon looked Hilla in the eye's as he said it, that had sent a chill down her spine and she did as she was ordered without question, _"Ok Lotus, just stay the way you are, this will be over in seconds." _Lotus was concerned with what they where doing but she trusted them, Von wasn't actually a bad person, he just had a bad temper sometimes and he was about as lost as she was emotion wise, she never understood him until now, having the experiences she faced all this time later, she knew why he acted the way he did, and that he was kind underneath his heart ache and pain. Since Lotus learned this he didn't seem as scary, she actually felt a deeper bond with him, since she semi knew how he was feeling, besides Orchid and the other commanders she trusted no one else, she acted like a male in front of the hero's and they believed she was one because of it, they also believe that she's very strong and not afraid of them yet in truth, she was terrified of what they could do to her.


	4. Ch2: Page 2

A warm light began to pulse from the circle above Lotus, slowly engulfing the ghost and her body. Hilla made a signal with her hand looking at Von, telling him it was ready _"Alright... Magnus get your lazy ass down here, we'll need your powers also"_ Von glared up at a large window on the second floor of the building where the Nova sat polishing his sword, _"Why do I care what happens to the little runt, she's a member of YOUR group"_ Magnus growled looking back towards Von and the others. _"You'll care Magnus"_ Will said, _"Because if anything happens to her, I'll use the remaining Time energy I stole from Rhinne to erase all your powers."_ Magnus stared at Will in complete shock before finally managing to mutter out a quiet _"Fine"_before jumping down from the window and joining them. The commanders gathered in a circle around the seal and each put a hand out, the seal burst with light that connected to each of their outstretched hands, Arkarium winced as his life energy was slowely drained from his body. "I thought you said you'd only take my power if I didn't help you!" Magnus bellowed out in panic, _"This isn't your power Magnus, its your life force"_ Will replied with a smug grin on his face, Magnus started to panic even more at the hearing of those words _"Calm down Magnus, we don't need to worry since we're near immortal because of Black Mages powers"_ Hilla glared at Magnus as she said it, causing Magnus to flinch and focus on what he was doing again.

Lotus was unconscious inside of the seal, life energy forcefully pulling her unconscious spirit back into her body, _"Will hurry up and cast that memory locking spell its almost done!"_ Hilla yelled out over the now roaring seal as it pulsed powerful energy across the building, Will withdrew his hand to copy the spell seal. He then drew out the seal using his finger, finally casting the powerful magic upon Lotus's spirit before she was completely pulled back into her body, powerful waves of magic and energy exploded across the room knocking everyone over as the seal broke. Hilla was the first one up again, looking around in shock then looking back at Lotus, the seal and memory spell had been completed successfully, she smiled shaking her head before getting up off the floor _"So what do you want to do now Will?" _she looked at Will who was now brushing himself off before looking back at her and responding, _"Lets take her to Edelstein, leave her at the mines Demon is bound to find her and take her back to the resistance" _Will said before turning and heading out towards the door, _"Now I have other business to attend to, I leave her body to you Hilla." _Hilla watched him walk out before hearing Magnus in the background yelling _"IM GONE!" _before turning to Von, she was about to speak when Von Leon cut her off _"Lets take her else where Hilla" _He looked at Lotus who was laying unconscious on the floor, _"I don't think she would be happy going straight to the Resistance, near Orchid anyways."_

Hilla nodded thinking the same thing, _"So where then?" she asked, "we can't leave her where just anyone would find her Von."_ The two pondered at the idea for almost 10 minutes before Von lowered his head, "Lets take her to that forest where Luminous is at" Von finally said looking up at Hilla. Hilla thought about it for a few moments in silence before sighing and picking Lotus up in her arms, _"The forest is near Ellinia right, I should go alone then, we don't want to attract to much attention." _Von nodded and headed towards the door before turning to bow a goodbye before vanishing. Hilla looked at a sleeping Lotus which she held tightly in her arms,_ "Doll, I hope you'll be alright out there by yourself, I actually enjoy your company here"_ Hilla sighed and shook her head before teleporting to a place near the forest entrance and gently placing Lotus out of any danger before vanishing again.


	5. Ch2: Page 3

_(A spirit Link is a human with an animal soul transformation)_

_(Also remember the Hero's don't know Lotus's real gender, I don't want to confuse anyone with this.)_

Ch.2 Page 3: Hero's View Line

Back near Edelstein, Luminous and Demon where sparring with a Spirit link that Luminous had met by mistaking him for Aran. The young man was the same age as Luminous was, he had a slightly tanned skin with short white spiky hair, the only difference was he didn't have a Polearm. That was the only thing that separated him from Aran looking at him from behind the first time Luminous had seen him. With armor on, the boy looked like a thief, his helmet was crimson red and black with a horn shape in the middle of it, the rest of this clothing where mainly black with the exceptions of red gloves and a red/white scarf, his name was Leo and just as his name would suggest, his spirit transformation was a white lion.

"_Luminous watch out, he's coming again!" _Demon yelled dodging a powerful hit from the lion boy as they jumped away from him. _"Sorry Demon Slayer, I'm slightly distracted right now"_ Luminous huffed as he broke into a run towards the lion, Leo quickly changed stance and to both Demon and Luminous's shock, summoned a powerful yellow/gold fire blast from his mouth, Luminous took the moment to watch his opponents equally yellow eye's flash with danger and seriousness before he fired again at Luminous. Luminous was so busy focusing on his opponent's attacks he hadn't realized that another fire blast had been fired straight at his staff, hitting his hand Luminous yelped in pain before dropping his staff and falling over. _"You alright Luminous, I think we should break for a while." _Leo said transforming back to his regular human form and handing Luminous a damp towel to clean off with, _"yea I'm fine"_ Luminous replied accepting the towel from his friend and training partner as he looked over to see Demon and Mastema talking in the distance. _"They look happy together"_ Luminous said half saddened, he got up and handed the towel back to his friend, Leo seemed to have noticed the tone in Luminous's voice shooting him a concerned look, "Im fine Leo, I promise" Luminous said struggling to sound happier but it was hardly convincing. _"What are you sad about Luminous? You only seem to get this way around Orchid or couples"_ Leo said concerned for his friends well being, "I'm alright, and im only like that because im worried for Orchid, and im jealous of the others." Luminous stated before walking off towards the Resistance's hideout.

Demon turned around to notice Leo was by himself now watching Luminous go away, _"Hey Leo?"_ Demon asked, surprising the lion boy making him jump before turning around to listen, _"How did you shoot fir from your mouth, that was pretty cool it surprised all of us."_ Demon laughed before curiously waiting for his friends reply. _"The fire? It was spiritual power, we Spirit Link's can summon and use this power at will, even if its different depending on what forms we take while transformed."_ Leo replied while sitting on a large rock watching Demon Slayer and Mastema. _"So what happened to Luminous?"_ Demon asked, concern filling his expression and voice, _"I think he's had a rough day Demon, let him go back to HQ and rest for a while, he needs time to relax and think" _Leo and Demon stared out towards the HQ their friend just went back to.

Luminous walked in through the secret passage quietly, lost in though when Orchid used her staff to poke him in the ribs, _"OW!"_ Luminous turned around and glared at the one who poked him that hard before realizing it was Orchid. _"You seem pretty down lately Luminous, wanna talk?"_ Orchid stared at him waiting for a reply, _"... I guess" _Luminous hesitated to respond but motioned for her to follow him back outside. They walked to the battle ground they (Lumi and Demon) where using for training just earlier, _"Wow, you guys really tore it up out here hm?"_ Orchid said looking around the area.

"_Um... Orchid?" _Luminous stuttered, _"Are you actually happy here in the Resistance? I mean without your brother?..."_ Luminous fell quiet feeling Orchid's gaze hit him, _"Im not really happy right now no, but its nothing to do with the Resistance."_ Orchid said still watching Luminous noticing his concern.


	6. Ch2: Page 4

"_What brought this up Luminous?"_ Orchid said looking up at the evening sky, _"and as for Lotus... I'm not happy because of what Gelimer did to... him"_ Orchid slightly panicked on the inside, she had almost slipped up and said _"Her"_ instead of _"Him"_. She remembered it was always Lotus's most prioritized thing to keep her gender a secret from the Hero's, even if she didn't understand why her sister did this, _"Um, so you knew Leo before now Orchid?"_ Luminous was trying to change the subject to avoid hurting Orchid anymore then she already was. _"Sorta"_ Orchid replied, _"He was friends with Lotus when we where little but they stopped talking after we joined Black Mage." _Luminous was shocked that the lion boy had been around for so long, but he kept his composure, _"Luminous, why do you always ask me stuff like this? You ask me if I'm happy or not then you change subjects to avoid talking about Lotus yet your next questions always end up back to him." _Orchid mused, she had wanted to laugh at him for failing, but she knew it was rude to do that and she didn't hold anything against him so she didn't want to be mean, _"I'm just worried, you always put on a fake smile even if your hurting inside your heart..." _they both sat quietly for a long period of time staring at the now starry night sky.

"_I understand Luminous, Lotus was the only person I ever held close to me in life, as a friend and someone I loved, maybe that's why its so painful though. I tried to much... way to much.."_ Orchid broke into tears, Luminous moved closer to her and wrapped Orchid into a hug to comfort her, he looked up at the stars and said in a sweet, gentle voice, as if he was speaking to a scared child _"I'm sorry Lotus, I didn't know either of you very well but if I get the chance now... I want to become friends with both of you and know you both better, so come back to us soon"_ Luminous smiled as Orchid looked at him shocked for what he just said. She couldn't believe someone actually would speak to Lotus like that let alone want her back alive and well, and on top of it be friends with both of them together, _"I hope so to Lotus..."_ Orchid whispered staring at the night sky. _"Lets get back to the HQ Orchid, its getting a little colder out here, and everyone's waiting for us"_ Luminous lightly laughed as he grabbed Orchids hand and started to walk back with her, Luminous and Orchid arrived back and exchanged goodbyes before Luminous headed for his own home, waving goodbye to all his friends in the Resistance, he set out for Ellinia.

Luminous was on his way home when he seen the forest's main path had been cut off due to heavy storms causing flooding and unstable roads while he was gone, so he took a path higher up that still lead home, but it was more difficult to crawl up. When he reached the top of the small hill, he noticed something wrapped up against a large tree, he didn't want to look at it but he couldn't help going over to it, using light magic to see the object better he realized it was actually a person wrapped up against the tree sleeping, he started to walk away when lightning flashed across the sky and thunder boomed, he looked back realizing it was going to downpour again soon. He went back towards the tree and sat next to the person, he wasn't going home with a random stranger, but he would stay by their side and keep them as warm and dry as possible. He pulled the sleeping person closer to him and wrapped his cape around them, _"I wonder how long they've been out here like this" _Luminous said as his eye's closed from the exhaustion on all the battling he had done.


	7. Ch 3: Unforgortten Faces

Chapter 3: Unforgotten faces

It was early morning with the sun just rising over the forest, Luminous woke up startled when a chipmunk used his head to jump from the tree to the ground, he shook his head at the tiny rodent and turned around to get a better look at who he had stayed next to last night, he sat frozen in shock when he recognized the person's face. "This is...! But how did Lotus get out here?!" Luminous was stunned, he didn't know whether to be happy or frightened and the energy he now felt coming off of Lotus was all but welcoming. He gently put a hand on Lotus's shoulder wondering if he should wake Lotus up, but he decided against it remembering what Orchid was like when she was woken up, "Orchid could probably even scare Balrog off when she's woken up by someone other then herself..." Luminous gave a nervous laugh before relaxing against the tree again, he soon found himself gently petting Lotus's hair as she slept, Luminous was wondering who would have left him out here like this, and how Lotus even found a way to live again. So many questions where running through his mind when a slight tremor ran through the ground, loosening the earth on the hill they where resting on, Luminous realized this and desperately grabbed for Lotus before the hill started to collapse underneath them. He made a final effort to protect Lotus by grabbing her waist and pulling her onto his lap holding her tightly against him, "If anyone's going to get hurt from this it'll be me and me alone!" Luminous said in his own mind, fortunately for him, when the hill gave way underneath them, he slid to the bottom of the hill unharmed he was thankful that the worst he faced was getting covered in mud. Luminous let out a small sigh and looked down at lotus, who was also covered in mud now, "We can't stay out here now, I have to get him clean and dried up before he gets sick" Luminous picked Lotus up in his arms and carried her back to his home. Lania was sitting on their porch smiling as Luminous approached the house, "_You sure took a long time to come home this time Lumi" _She said hugging his waist tightly and giggling.

Lania noticed Luminous was carrying someone, _"I stayed out an extra night because I found him outside alone and it looked like it was going to downpour" _Luminous hesitated _"I didn't want him to get sick"_ Lania hugged him again and smiled _"Your so nice Lumi!"_ Luminous couldn't help but laugh at Lania's remark, she seemed happy to have another person to play with, if Lotus was really willing to play with her anyways. _"He always seemed so cold and hostile before... maybe this is a bad idea"_ Luminous thought to himself,_ "Hey Lania, I'm going to get some more fruit and things for cooking, I'll give him a bath and stuff when I get back, make sure he stays out of trouble if he wakes up before then."_ Luminous said before setting Lotus down, Lania nodded in understanding and Luminous waved goodbye before setting out into the nearest town. Lania looked at Lotus for a brief moment before deciding to wash Lotus up herself rather then wait, "He'll get sick anyways covered in all this cold mud" Lania was just about to grab Lotus when she woke up. Lania jumped back in alarm, this startled Lotus as well, that she was inside of someone's house more then Lania did, _"Where am I?"_ Lotus asked turning to Lania, then noticing she was covered in mud _"and... what happened here?"_ Lania laughed easing down again, "Lumi found you outside last night and brought you home this morning, and I was just about to give you a bath" She replied with a large smile coming over her face as she watched Lotus.

Lotus stared at Lania taking in what she just said then it occurred to her, _"Wait... by Lumi.. you mean Luminous?"_ Lotus said with slight panic filling her tone, Lania gave her a confused look, _"You... excuse me for a moment please" _Lania said running over and hugging Lotus, this surprised Lotus so much that she froze, _"What is this kid doing?!" _Lotus thought as her panic rose even further, she was inside a hero's house with no weapons or allies to protect her from him. Lotus looked down at Lania who was still hugging her, face buried in her chest, _"I knew Lumi was wrong! Your not a boy at all"_ Lania laughed hugging Lotus even tighter and closer then before.


	8. Ch3: Page 2

"_W-when did you decide that?!" _Lotus remarked in a tone that made Lania laugh, _"Because you have things boys don't have"_ Lania laughed again and looked up at Lotus smiling, Lotus couldn't help but smile back and put a hand on Lania's head in response. _"This kid is amusing"_ Lotus thought while watching Lania, _"So may I ask how I got so dirty?"_ Lotus questioned as Lania finally let go of her and stepped back, "Not until I get your name" Lania laughed and sat next to Lotus watching her with eager eye's. _"My name..."_ Lotus paused with hesitation, _"Should I tell her it or...?"_ Lania sensed her new friends tension and lightly tugged on Lotus's sleeve catching her attention, _"We'll keep that your a girl a secret from Lumi, but he said he 'd wash you when he got back, maybe we should take a bath before then so he doesn't find out on his own."_ Lania smiled eagerly waiting for Lotus's response.

"_He wouldn't get that chance!" _Lotus barked back at Lania while blushing, Lania caught that and laughed at Lotus's reaction before tugging her sleeve again, _"Then lets go and take a bath together!"_ Lotus watched Lania get up and run towards the Bathroom, _"This kid... I didn't think they came this hyper, but at least she's a girl"_ Lotus sighed before trailing after Lania _"Bathing with or by a man would be embarrassing, I didn't even like it when dad did that"_ Lotus thought as she approached Lania and the tub, it was actually rather large, almost like a Hot tub.

(Mean while...)

Luminous killed any monster that threatened to steal his groceries on the way home, from anyone else's point of view, he may have looked like an enraged woman at a shoe store trying to protect an expensive pair of shoes that all the other woman wanted. Shade watched Luminous from a distance, he had wanted to ask Luminous for a favor and even followed Luminous out of town for the opportunity to ask him, but this... this was depressing to watch. Moon Beam was trailing closely behind Shade snickering at how silly the human in front of them looked swinging his staff like a mad man. Shade stepped on a twig that snapped,making Luminous swing around lighting his staff with a violent dark magic and his red eye's flame started to flicker and twitch, Shade could tell that Luminous was extremely annoyed by this point. _"Um Luminous..."_ Shade struggled to stay calm, _"I was going to ask if you could help me with a job later but... I couldn't get your attention in town so I -"_ Luminous lowered his staff and took a deep breath, "No need to say anymore I understand, I'm a little busy right now though Shade, maybe you should ask Aran to help you." Shade backed up and nodded in understanding, "I'll do that then Luminous, sorry for bothering you" Luminous threw a pouch of money at Shade causing him to look up in surprise, _"Do you're best friend, and sorry if I seemed cold earlier, just a lot on my mind."_

The two went their separate ways after an exchange of apologies and goodbyes, Luminous started to hurry, he was getting more and more worried about Lania, he regret taking Lotus back with him and leaving them alone together, he regret putting Lania in danger. "_I have to get home quickly! No matter what means it takes, I have to protect Lania!"_


	9. Ch3: Page 3

(Back to Lotus & Lania)

The girls had finished their bath, which even Lotus found was a fun experience, and they had washed their clothes afterward now they sat giggling and talking on the couch next to the fireplace, Lotus was feeling at home and loved being around Lania, she enjoyed the child's company, they had introduced themselves and Lotus had even spoken about being with Black Mage, and a lot about her and her sisters past, Lania listened to everything but she still loved Lotus no matter how evil she had been in the past._ "So Lotus, why do you hide your gender from the hero's?"_ Lania asked, her eye's full of curiosity, _"Well... I'm afraid of them, back before Orchid and I had joined with Black Mage, we... met a lot of bad people."_ Lotus seemed upset thinking about the past _"We where outcasts to everyone else, and there where a lot of tough times that made it hard for us to trust others, Black Mage and the other commanders seemed to be the only people who accepted us."_ Lania looked at Lotus as if she was about to cry, _"You guys... you had such a bad life before now, im so sorry about that Lotus... but Lumi is really nice you know, when he found you last night before the storm hit, he stayed by your side out there all night to make sure you didn't get sick."_ Lotus looked at Lania in shock, had Luminous really done that for her? _"Well... then maybe we should tell him."_ Lotus smiled staring at the fireplace, Lania's eye's lit up when she heard those words _"You really want to tell him all this Lotus, even you being a girl?"_ Lotus looked back at her and put a hand on her head making Lania smile, _"Yes, even about that."_

Luminous had finally made it home, out of breath ready to take Lotus down if he had to, but when he came near the door, he heard the two laughing together and talking, he lowered his guard hearing them, _"Maybe... I don't have to worry after all" _Luminous thought to himself, a smile taking over his face as he quietly opened the door. "Lumi's Home!" Lania ran to him hugging him tightly and he smiled at her then looked at Lotus, _"So you woke up already, how are you feeling?" _Luminous gave Lotus a warm smile, it made her feel comfortable enough to reply in her own natural voice rather then hiding it from him further, _"Very nice, and... thank you Luminous"_ Lotus looked down at her lap lightly blushing, Luminous not even thinking of what she had just said, blushed and stared at her for a few moments before finally breathing out a soft _"your voice is beautiful..."_ there was an awkward silence for a few moments after he said that, Lania finally spoke up to break it, _"Hey Lumi, lets go catch a few fish to add in tonight, I kinda want a stew for dinner, is that ok Lotus?"_ She looked at the couch hoping Lotus would support her to break the situation, _"y-yea, I'm cool with it"_ Lotus said looking at Lania and nodding.

Lania dragged Luminous out to the river near their house and she lightly tugged on his cape, stopping him from casting out so she could speak with him, _"Lumi... she's had a rather hard life, please be kind to her"_ Lania said in a whisper before letting go of his cape, Luminous watched Lania before he bent down and hugged her, _"Don't worry Lania, I won't do anything to hurt her" _Luminous patted Lania's head, "Now can you go get the pot ready for the stew?" Luminous asked her in a soft voice, "Of course Lumi!" Lania had a smile on her face again as she ran back into the house to get started on work. _"Wow, I'm just shocked still" _Luminous did a slight face palm before blushing throwing out the reel. _"Lotus is a chick, and a cute one at that"_ Luminous heard a slightly darker/deeper voice in the back of his mind reply, "I though I got rid of you Eclipse" Luminous growled in his own mind at the darker being within him. _"Oh no, you can never get rid of me Sunfire, I AM you" _Lania had made a name for each his darker and lighter side during the time Luminous had no control over his darker side, _"I'm the darkness inside your heart, you can never get rid of me completely" "Well make sure you stay inside of me and quiet" _Luminous remarked as he pulled in a fish and placed it in the basket Lania used for when they went fishing together.


	10. Ch3: Page 4

Luminous sat quietly fishing after the dispute he and his darker side had, he looked back towards the house where he could see through the windows that Lania and Lotus where working on sorting the groceries out and getting everything ready for the stew. Orchid had commented before how much she and Lotus hated eating fish, he wondered why Lotus agreed to eat it in the stew, but then again he himself hadn't been thinking clearly, maybe she hadn't been either when Lania had asked them if they where both alright with it. _"Wonder what Lotus told Lania while I was away, she seemed pretty worried and upset when she told me to be nice to Lotus..."_ Luminous pondered at the idea, he was still afraid of that energy he felt coming off of Lotus when he had decided to take her home with him.

**-*CRASH*- **Luminous jolted up from his seat when he heard something crash and screaming from Lania, he ran back to the house in such a hurry that he forgot to pull the lure out of the river before leaving, _"Lania, Lotus are you two alright!" _He yelled rushing through the door and into the kitchen. He froze at what he seen, Lotus was holding Lania tightly in effort to protect the unconscious girl while she herself was slowly slipping away, a large black snake with red markings under it's eye's stood almost completely upright, eye's glowing coldly, emitting a strong hypnosis while hissing and glaring at the girls as they slowly faded into an unconscious state. Luminous was horrified, he wasn't sure if he could approach or act fast enough to protect them from the beast, he knew if he moved to quickly it could attack them, but if he did nothing then they where still at its mercy. The snake reared its ugly head towards Luminous once it was sure the girls where deep in slumber, _"Beware"_ the snake hissed in a cold tone, _"Beware? Of what..."_ Luminous thought, never once taking his eye's off the hideous reptile, _"The child will kill you all"_ the snake hissed again, slowly moving towards Luminous. _"What are you talking about!"_ Luminous shouted at the snake, startling the reptile causing it to recoil, _"The demon's power flows strongly within the child, she cannot control it." _The snake hissed in a cool voice, slowly starting to vanish, almost as if it where an illusion.

"_Wait! What are you talking about?!" _Luminous had panic clearly rising in his voice, he needed answers, but the snake was gone now. _"What was it talking about... was it referring to..." _Luminous looked at Lotus who was now also out cold, still holding Lania tightly against her, _"Was it talking about Lotus?"_ Luminous walked over to the two girls and put his cloak over them, _"I'll leave a note for them, but I need answers..." _Luminous found a paper and pen, writing a letter for the girls, he put the paper down on the counter top before giving them a final glance then heading out the door.

**(Letter)**

_**-Lania, Lotus;**_

_**I was needed back in Edelstein, I'm sorry for having to bail on you guys like this but it was urgent business, you two enjoy dinner and get some sleep, I'll be home as soon as I can.**_

_**Luminous-**_

Luminous wasn't exactly lying, he wasn't called out by anyone but this was urgent to him, he needed to find Shade and quickly. Everyone else where busy with their own things, Shade had to be the only one not busy right now, he had to talk to someone about this. Luminous quickly cast a tracking spell, he waited impatiently for it to pick up on where Shade was, but the tracker wasn't picking up on anything. _"Damn it! He must be in Fox Village again" _Luminous gritted his teeth and bolted for the dimensional portal that linked the worlds together.


	11. Ch3: Page 5

He was just about to reach the portal linked to the Nova, when someone grabbed his hand and pulled him backwards away from the portal, _**"WHAT NOW!"**_ Luminous screamed as he turned around holding a now flaming staff at the person who grabbed him's throat, it was Xenon who was clearly shocked and hurt from the tone and gesture his friend had just shown him, Luminous's heart sank making him want to cry inside. Xenon had become a close friend to him and had helped him out a lot with both personal training and his quests that required parties of two or more people, Xenon slowly backed off letting Luminous's hand go, _"Xenon I... I'm sorry about this, I.. I'm in a hurry though"_ Luminous was gritting his teeth, on the very brink of tears, he not only yelled at his friend but threatened to hurt him as well, these actions where unacceptable. He was starting to cry despite his attempts not to, Xenon once again approached Luminous and gently patted his shoulder, _"It's ok Luminous, I hadn't noticed you where busy..."_ Xenon's tone was full of hurt, Luminous realized just how badly he had hurt his friend's feelings.

"_Calm down Luminous... Before you make a mistake that can't be taken back" _Luminous lectured himself, _"How could I have done this to someone who's been by my side for so long now and did so much for me? I'll have to make it up to him later..." _Luminous wiped his tears away before looking at Xenon's face. _"What did you need Xenon?"_ Luminous asked in a shaky voice, about to break down into tears again, _"Oh... I... wanted to know if you'd come back to the Resistance with me to talk to Shade, but if your busy I can go alone..." _Xenon said with a downcast look in his eye's. _"I... was just on my way to see Shade, I thought he was in Fox Village again"_ Luminous's heart was breaking further with each word, he couldn't forgive himself for the mistake he made, but Xenon noticed Luminous's regret and quickly acted to prevent his friends further hurt. _"It's ok Luminous, don't feel bad, I should have said something rather then just grabbing your hand like that."_ Xenon nodded at Luminous, Luminous felt slightly better knowing his friend understood and forgave him for his mistake, _"So tell me why you where in such a hurry on the way there Luminous"_ Xenon gave a smile as he grabbed Luminous's hand again and they started walking for the ship to Edelstein.

The whole ride to Edelstein the two talked about what had happened to them each recently, Luminous told Xenon about finding Lotus, Lotus being a girl and about the snake and what it told him. Xenon gave a concerned look to Luminous as he listened, _"So the snake said Lotus is dangerous?"_ Xenon asked in a worried tone, watching Luminous closely. _"Yea... but Lotus is actually really sweet from what i've seen, she even protected Lania from that snake when I couldn't..."_ Luminous looked like he was hurting, having to distrust Lotus again so soon after he had just stated to like her. Xenon listened to Luminous as he thought of what he could do to help his friend out, "So you think Shade can help you?" Xenon finally spoke up after a brief moment of silence, _"I'm hoping so, he said he's shared our old stories with all of Fox Village already, so even if he doesn't know, maybe one of his friends does." _Xenon looked thoughtfully at the station as their ship pulled in and landed.

The two friends made their way through town to the Resistance, where they found Elix cleaning up the base, _"Eveyone's out by the mines if your looking for them" _Elix said not even looking to see who was coming into the base. _"Very careless of you Elix"_ Xenon scolded, causing Elix to turn around and face them, _"I ain't careless, I know it's you two. Believe me, I listened to you both training enough times to know your footsteps from the others"_ Elix chuckled before tuning around again to continue cleaning. Luminous and Xenon made their way over to the mine's doing petty swings at the weakling monsters that thought they had a chance against them, Elix was right, everyone who was a major part to the resistance was there along with Shade, Leo, Evan, Mercedes, and even Cygnus and some of her knights, _"Thank god Phantom isn't here to screw everything up hm?" _Xenon chuckled looking at Luminous, who nodded in agreement.


	12. Ch3: Page 6

"_What brings you here today Luminous?"_ Cygnus asked smiling and waving at the two as they approached, _"Luminous got a bad message we where hoping you guys could help us with" _Xenon replied waving back to Cygnus and taking a seat next to Shade. _"A problem?"_ Mercedes asked looking at Luminous in concern, Luminous told everyone what happened (Minus that Lotus was a female) including what the snake told him in the end, everyone looked at each other in shock, Orchid looked like she wanted to cry, what for exactly, Luminous wasn't sure. There was silence in the gathering until Tumbleweed spoke up, _"So that probably means... that's where your power went to Demon"_ the tiny fox man said looking at Demon Slayer, who's expression said it all, he was upset, but sad for Lotus at the same time. _"Lotus is going to be in constant fear then if he has that power now..."_ Demon Slayer looked grim upon saying that, he knew how heavy the weight of his own power was.

"_So... what can we do to undo it" _Orchid ordered, Luminous was about to answer before he realized she was staring at the mines, she picked up and threw a small rock at the corner of the mines, and a sharp yelp came from inside the mines, surprising everyone making them face the mines. _"Well? Francis I know your in there, don't make me kick your ass boy." _Orchid said in a rather annoyed tone jumping down from the rock she was sitting on and glaring into the mine, a muffled cry came from inside the mines as a cloaked figure emerged from the mine's entrance. _"I-I'm not sure miss Orchid" _Francis managed to mutter out through his sobbing, _"Why are you crying, geez your such a wimp... no wonder why everyone goes to kick your ass, when your this pathetic..." _Orchid did a face palm and sighed before sitting down again. _"I believe you hit him in the head with that rock you threw Orchid"_ Leo suggested, catching Orchid's attention and making her look sorry.

"_Why are you hiding in the mines eavesdropping anyways kid?" _Tumbleweed asked staring at Francis, who was trying desperately to stop crying. _"I'll protect miss Orchid"_ he muttered quietly hoping no one heard him except the fox. Mercedes and the others where clearly amused by him, _"Be thankful they find you amusing child, or you'd probably be getting your ass kicked by more then just Orchid"_ Black Jack growled, causing Francis to shudder and retreat back inside the mines to where he was before. A long silence followed after the cloaked figure retreated, _"Ahem, so... what do you guys think then?"_ Shade finally said looking down at his lap where his friend Moon Beam was softly asleep, _"I think the best thing we can do is keep constant watch over Lotus until signs of that power actually show"_ Demon said, Mastema nodding in agreement with his proposal, _"Then we can teach Lotus how to use that power until we can extract it"_ Mastema seemed calm and focused on the situation. Luminous hesitated before speaking up again _"Lotus already is showing signs though, there's a horrible aura that comes off he-him at times"_ Luminous almost messed up, Xenon and Orchid caught him, Orchid watching Luminous as if he was some wild beast now rather then a human, Xenon fretting over if anyone caught Luminous's mistake, thankfully though, no one else seemed to have heard his slip up.

"_For now... Lets go with what Demon and Mastema proposed" _Tumbleweed finally said, everyone else nodded in agreement. _"If you must Luminous... Use the spring water above my kingdom to calm Lotus down, if he gets that bad"_ Mercedes chimed in, willing to help in any way she could. _"Thank you guys..."_ Luminous said in tears, he was happy for everyone's understanding and support. _"Just don't tell Phantom"_ Cygnus winked and held a finger to her lips, a sign for everyone to stay quiet about the situation. Everyone else nodded again, Luminous thanked everyone at the gathering before walking back towards the Resistance, Xenon had other problems to talk about with everyone so Luminous left alone. _"You slipped up earlier"_ Orchid said from behind Luminous in a dangerous tone, surprising him. _"W-well I'm glad only you heard it then" _Luminous said with a cold sweat starting to form, _**"You know about Lotus so I'll make this simple..."**_ Orchid had a cold look in her eye's that scared Luminous, he didn't understand why she was suddenly cold towards him. _**"You do anything to hurt Lotus... and I'll guarantee you never step foot out of that forest again." **_Orchid threatened coldly. Luminous jumped back and started to walk away from Orchid slowly, he was terrified at what he was hearing, Orchid was clearly angry with Luminous, _"He's not Phantom Miss Orchid... I don't think he's interested in that sort of thing"_, both Orchid and Luminous turned around in surprise to find that Francis had followed them. _"I don't care if he's like Phantom, I'm warning him, he better not hurt my sister!"_ Orchid pouted as her former lackey and stalker retreated back a few steps not wanting to get hurt again, _"Of course I'm not like that!, No, thank god no!" _Luminous felt his stomach turn, he couldn't believe that Orchid thought he would ever do anything to Lotus of that fashion._ "I... have to get home now..."_ Luminous backed away from the two as Orchid stared to yell at Francis again _"So sorry that I'm dumping her frustrations on you like this..." _Luminous sent a telepathic message to Francis before going to the station and catching a boat home.

(FYI's Tumbleweed is a character out of Shade's story line in the game itself, that was for those of you who didn't remember him or, haven't played Shade's storyline yet.)


	13. Chapter 4: Dark sorrow, Light warmth

Chapter 4: Dark sorrow, Light warmth

Luminous made it to the forest late at night, Luminous checked his watch _"Crap its already 11:30?"_ Luminous sighed and headed through the forest towards his home when he heard the wind softly blowing against the grass and leaves, making a soft melody through out the forest. Luminous listened to the soft song of the forest as he came to the clearing before his home, he looked up to see a full moon and someone sitting on the rooftop, Luminous realized it was Lotus who was also singing softly with the forest, quiet enough that Lania wouldn't be woken, but to where she could still be heard. Luminous quietly walked towards the house to listen a little better, he was careful not to make any noise on the way.

"_**Shadows all around you as you surface from the dark**_

_**Emerging from the gentle grip of night's unfolding arms**_

_**Darkness, darkness everywhere, do you feel alone?**_

_**The subtle grace of gravity,**_

_**the heavy weight of stone**_

_**You don't see what you possess,**_

_**a beauty calm and clear**_

_**It floods the sky and blurs the darkness**_

_**like a chandelier**_

_**All the light that you possess **_

_**Is skewed by lakes and seas**_

_**The shattered surface, so imperfect,**_

_**is all that you believe"**_

the sounds of the forest and wind along with Lotus's voice took Luminous's breath away, he slowly climbed up towards the roof still careful not to make any noise that would disrupt Lotus's singing.

"_**I will bring a mirror,**_

_**so silver, so exact**_

_**So precise and so pristine,**_

_**a perfect pane of glass**_

_**I will set the mirror up**_

_**to face the blackened sky ~ **_

_**You will see your beauty**_

_**every moment that you rise"**_

Luminous slowly walked up behind Lotus, she took notice of his presence some time ago but she didn't mind him being there. Luminous sat beside Lotus and gently pulled her closer to him, Lotus was surprised but she didn't try to fight him off, she felt a warm comfort from Luminous that made her feel peaceful and safe against the cold night. The two watched the moon together in silence, taking in its beauty and soft glow against their skin, Luminous softly brushed his hand over Lotus's hair making her look up at him,_ "I'll protect you no matter what Lotus" _Luminous softly whispered as he hugged her. Lotus hugged him back, making Luminous blush and wish that he could stay in this moment forever, he didn't want to let go of Lotus, gently pulled away and held her hand lightly,_ "We should be going to bed soon right?"_ Luminous said with a soft smile on his face, Lotus nodded and carefully got up and followed Luminous down towards the door. _"Go ahead and sleep in the bed with Lania Lotus, i'll take the couch from here on"_ Luminous gently patted Lotus's head and smiled, as he walked over to the couch and lied down, Lotus watched him before going upstairs to the bed, Lania had already explained to her that Luminous often slept with her at night, and she was also more then welcome to since they didn't have any extra beds, Lotus smiled lightly looking downstairs one final time before going to sleep.


	14. Ch4: Page 2

Luminous lied on the couch quietly thinking, he was confused with his actions _"Why'd I do that? It must have seemed pretty creepy to Lotus"_ Luminous shook his head and closed his eyes, falling into a silent slumber. Luminous had a dream about his old friends, there was a wide lush green field where Aran was sparring with Phantom, Shade and Mercedes, Luminous was sitting against a large tree reading a book and Freud was sitting against Afrien, both watching the others dueling. Phantom had caught Aran off guard firing a shot of cards at him then vanishing in mid air, he showed up again behind Aran sticking out a leg and tripping Aran as he backed up for space, sending his polearm flying towards Luminous and Freud, Luminous quickly closed his book and ducked down as the Polearm flew above his head and punctured the tree's trunk becoming deeply wedged inside of it, Aran screaming at Phantom and chasing him as Mercedes and Shade sat back on the grass laughing at them. Freud looked towards the Polearm listening to Maha muttering and cursing under his breath at his reckless master and the annoying Phantom, causing Freud to chuckle _"You know you like them whether their careless or not"_ Freud smiled watching the spirit, Maha turned to him and replyed _"__**YOU **__don't know how much trouble those two are." _both Luminous and Freud laughed before Luminous grabbed the handle of the Polearm and casting a spell with his other hand, the tree widened where the Polearm was wedged in at, allowing an easy tug to pull it out of the tree unharmed. Maha nodded towards Luminous before looking out at Aran and Phantom again, _"Those fools..." _he sighed before vanishing again, his reflection reappearing in the Polearm again.

Freud stood up and threw a small rock, hitting Phantom in the head making both stop in their tracks, _"Mommy wants you back Aran" _Freud chimed as both boys gave a confused look, Shade laughed _"I think he's talking about Maha"_ Aran looked back at Shade before realizing where his weapon flew off to when he tripped, he raced up towards the tree, thanking Luminous and Freud then getting an earful from his weapon.

Luminous woke up from his dream and looked around, it was still pretty dark, he cast a simple light spell and pulled his watch out of his cape,_ "5a.m."_ Luminous quietly got up from the couch and walked outside. _"Demon had asked me to join him and Leo for morning practice, since im up I should help I guess"_ Luminous reached into his bag and pulled out a Teleportation rock, placing his free hand over the rock and warping to Edelstein.


	15. Ch4: Page 3

Luminous arrived at the entrance of Edelstein, slowly making his way through town towards the training grounds, being able to hear echo's of the fighting and explosions throughout the quiet town as he took in the beauty of the morning sun slowly rising over the now peaceful little town. Ever since Orchid joined the resistance, many of the Black Wings started supporting Edelstein, including Francis. Luminous finally came to the large training area where everyone was practicing battle, Demon and Leo where fighting with Xenon and Orchid, all of them throwing in every ounce of power they had within them at one another. Luminous slowly approached the rising battle when Demon noticed him and flew out of the sparring causing the other three to stop and look at where he went, _"Glad you could make it"_ Demon said smiling, wiping his forehead off with a towel, Luminous could see from looking at the sweat pouring off the others and the dirt covering them that they had been at it for a while now. _"Glad I could make it also"_ Luminous smiled and waved to his friends out on the field, in which Leo and Xenon replied with a smile and nod, but Orchid looked upset to see him,_ "Shes still mad at you Luminous"_ Demon chuckled looking at Luminous,_ "Well she'll probably hate me even more after last night"_ Luminous couldn't help but snicker at the thought of Orchid reacting to what happened.

"_Why, what did you do Lum?" _Phantom came swooping in from out of_ no where, "Um... N-" _Luminous stuttered, but Phantom cut him off before he could finish._ "I know about Lotus, Shinsoo told me all about it after Cygnus fell asleep" _Phantom waved a finger at Luminous before staring him in the eye's, _"You can't lie to me Luminous" _Phantom gave Luminous a smug grin, it was ticking Luminous off, he hated Phantom's cocky attitude as much as the next guy, but he shook off any negative feelings, he had things to do today. Luminous brushed past Phantom and walked towards his friends, Xenon looked towards Orchid, _"Why don't you take a rest Orchid? You where out here before any of the rest of us were training this morning." _Orchid glared at Xenon making him cower back before she got up and stormed off, Phantom watched her walk past him before attempting to make her angry, as he did to many people he enjoyed playing with, _"Hey, where's your sniveling toad Orchid? I'd love to beat him up and break his puppets again~"_ he gave a smug grin as Orchid whirled around glaring at him. _"Touch Francis and I'll break every bone in your body"_ She replied in a rather angered tone, Phantom was delighted, he loved girls that played hard to get, but he loved sassy one's even more, Orchid was both making her his favorite toy to mess with, he chased after her trying to irritate her even further, soon they where both out of sight.

"_Thank god he's gone, but I feel bad for Orchid..."_ Mastema murmured as she crawled off the fallen cliff rocks and onto the battle field next to Demon's side. _"I'd feel bad for anyone who had to deal with him"_ Xenon sighed before walking up to Luminous, _"So what happened last night Luminous?" _Xenon tilted his head curiously watching Luminous, Luminous explained what happened the previous night, Mastema and Demon Slayer where smirking at each other when he finished._ "Sounds like the beginning of love to me"_ Mastema playfully swished her tail around on the ground as she watched Luminous, _"That... __THATS OBSURD__!"_ Luminous stuttered as he started to blush, Xenon was amused by Luminous's reaction, _"Well, why else would you do that?"_ Xenon asked curiously, catching Luminous off guard._ "Really? Why would I have..."_ Luminous was in a panic within his mind, he didn't understand why he did it either. _"Well, think about it, you said you'd only be attracted to a girl that found Phantom as annoying as you do"_ an all to familiar voice chimed in, _"The voice is... Maha?"_ Luminous whirled around to see Aran walking towards them, he was laughing at the comment Maha had made as the spirit rested on Aran's shoulder, _"Aran. Maha!"_ Luminous rushed forward grabbing his old friend(s) in a hug. _"Nice to see you again too Luminous, but your squeezing the breath out of me!"_ Aran managed to gasp out in a slight bit of laughter pushing Luminous off of him, it had been almost 2 years since the last time they spoke, Aran had gone off on a long trip to train and hone his skills again, Luminous had been close with Aran since they met again after he regained most of his memories.


	16. Ch4: Page 4

Shade and the others also approached Aran, Shade greeted Aran with a hand shake and Demon slayer gave Aran a pat on the back, Mastema giving a slight bow, to which both Aran and Maha nodded to in respect _"Well, its nice to see all of you again, and meet those of you I haven't seen before"_ Aran smiled and waved towards Leo and Xenon, which both happily returned the greeting. Luminous was shaking, thrilled to be with everyone again, he ran off towards the other side of the training field where Mercedes was training at to tell her the news. _"Man he became interesting since he met Lania"_ Aran laughed, _"Indeed, I remember when he was boring and lame"_ Shade replied, the two where getting into their memories of the old times when Phantom swooped in, again from out of nowhere, _**"You again!"**_ Maha glared at Phantom, _"I'll __**NEVER**__ forgive you for what happened!"_ Maha pouted while glaring at Phantom, the thief just laughed and made a shooing motion with his hand,_ "Who cares if you got landed in a tree, its not like you where hurt so stop whining already"_ Phantom laughed before turning away again and walking towards Luminous and Mercedes. _"So Luminous's dream was actually a memory?"_ Xenon looked over towards Aran, who shrugged and sighed looking back at Phantom who was getting further and further away, _"I suppose we all remember and dreamed about something from the past at least once"_ Aran replied with a far off look in his eye's, the others could tell he was thinking about it.

Luminous was just finishing telling Mercedes what had happened the night before when they both spotted Phantom, Mercedes gave a look towards Luminous before getting up to greet Phantom, "Your right Luminous... Orchid would kill you if she heard what you did" Mercedes gave a light giggle before going to hug Phantom and talk with him, Luminous looked at his watch again,_ "7:56a.m"_ Luminous snapped his watch shut again and placed it back inside his cape and got up, _"Rush time"_ he smirked and pulled his staff forward making it pulse with magic, causing Mercedes to look at him in surprise, a Mega phone rang out over the training ground, Belle the Wild Hunter Instructor's voice rang out loud and clear making everyone turn at attention, _**"GET READY FOR RUSH HOUR!"**_ she screamed out into the Mega phone, everyone turned away from the targets they where fighting/practicing with previously and grabbed their best weapons._ "Whats Rush Hour?"_ Aran asked Demon looking confused, it was the first time he had heard of it, _"Rush hour is when we drop training with dummies and start fighting each other along with real monsters"_ Demon replied, also grabbing his own weapon readying for battle.

The Transcendence of Life, Alicia appeared before the mass off warriors, mages, bowmen, and hero's, she waved a hand and a horde of powerful monsters emerged from the mines behind her, ready for hours of hard battling, they where friendly monsters that she created only for the purpose of helping to train the alliance for fighting Black Mage. Everyone charged forward at the monsters, it would have looked like bloody war if anyone outside of the alliance had seen it, Orchid returned beating Phantom and Luminous over the head purposely before rapid firing at the monsters as many others joined her, firing powerful techniques at both the monsters and each other. The Hero's jobs where to fight the other members, after all if they couldn't beat the hero's who sealed black mage, they couldn't stand a chance against he himself, Luminous, Shade, Phantom, Mercedes, and Demon charged at the other members as well, mercilessly slaying any monsters in their path and beating down any wimps, the people who where defeated where warped out of the training ground and treated before serious injury could occur. This battle practice normally lasted 2-3 hours a day for a full week, every month there would be two separate week's that this event would happen, sparring in groups or parties was also allowed, as the hero's often did, Luminous would ask the help of Demon, Leo, and Orchid since they where all powerful fighters._ "Wanna join them"_ Aran eagerly looked over his shoulder at Maha who was now back in the Polearm, it glistened with light as Maha's reflection appeared again giving a thumbs up to Aran, they charged into battle, fighting with every ounce if strength they had.

Most of the training instructors at the Resistance where now joining the fight on either side, Cygnus and some of her head knights where treating the wounded, Francis had shown up as well helping to hold some of the people still that were fighting to get back out on the field, controlling them with his puppet strings allowing Oz and the others to bandage them up and treat them properly. Neinheart glared at Francis constantly, making him whimper and cry the entire process through, the battle lasted for 3 hours non-stop, everyone exhausted in the end, Orchid smacking and yelling at Francis for being such a cry baby and Phantom teasing them both making one cry harder the other even more pissed off.

"_That was a lot of fun"_ Aran said smiling at the others who where being treated, they each smiled back and nodded, Luminous was looking on the down side however, despite his smile being sincere, everyone could see something was wrong. _"Thinking about what the snake said again?"_ Xenon walked over and sat closer to Luminous gently placing a hand on his shoulder, _"What now?"_ Aran looked over at them curiously, he didn't know anything about what had happened yet, Luminous told Aran everything, about finding Lotus, the snake, and what he had done. Aran looked at Luminous as if he were trying to process everything, he seemed stressed and worried, his Polearm gleaming again beside him,_ "Better keep an eye on her then Luminous, don't know what she'd do to Lania, accidentally of course"_ Maha added in quickly trying not to make Luminous panic, but he already was inside, he knew that was true, he didn't know what she could do to Lania or himself, he had no clue what he was getting himself into with Lotus nor the dangers he was putting the others into.


	17. Ch4: Page 5

By noon Luminous had said goodbye to his friends, he had helped the Cygnus Knights finish bandaging the remaining people with injures, then joked around with Aran and the others for a while longer before deciding to head home. Xenon and the other where still in conversation talking about tomorrow's training when Alicia approached them, _"Hello there children"_ she smiled politely taking a seat next to Aran and Mercedes **(they weren't exactly children, but she was the Transcendent of Life so they understood why she often called them all "children")**

"_Hello miss Alicia" _they all smiled back at her, even Maha who was slightly bowing to show his respect. _"Oh dear there's no need for that"_ she replied smiling before looking over at the others, _"So what was Luminous talking to you all about?"_ Alicia sat patiently smiling, the group sat looking at one another for a brief moment wondering what they should say, Mastema was the first to do a slight nod towards the others and speak up, _"He was telling us about whats happened to him the past few days"_ Mastema nervously smiled while speaking, Alicia didn't seem to notice though, Mastema was suddenly thankful that she was still a cat. _"Oh, that sounds lovely, what happened?"_ Alicia was still smiling as she watched the others, Maha had connected to Aran telepathically _"We should tell her, she might know how to go about this better then we do Aran"_, _"But what if she wants us to kill Lotus?"_ Aran replied back with slight concern crossing through his tone, Luminous seemed happy with both Lania and Lotus, he would hate to steal that happiness from Luminous, _"Shes a transcendent Aran, she's pretty much the mother of everything in this world, I doubt she'd have us kill anyone for no reason."_ Maha assured him, Aran still hesitated before speaking up, Lotus was a former commander, that was already enough reason to kill her. _"He... had a surprise encounter with uh..."_ Aran covered his face, what was he doing, _"Lotus"_ Demon finished off for Aran, Alicia watched them carefully monitoring the situation before speaking, _"Orchid's sister?"_ Alicia asked slightly tilting her head, _"Yes"_ Demon answered with confidence, he wasn't worried, Alicia had accepted Orchid, Mastema, and himself without a problem he doubted she would hold anything against Lotus since she had been kind to the three of them from the beginning even knowing all they had done and who they where.

Alicia closed her eye's for a few moments thinking, _"I'm sure there's something wrong with the child as of now..." _her smile slightly faded as she looked towards the group of friends,_ "Any signs of danger?"_ she asked calmly watching Demon Slayer knowing he would probably be the one to answer her. _"Luminous said he felt a bad energy coming off Lotus when he found first brought her home with him"_ Xenon lowered his head slightly, a panicked expression coming over his face, he knew he had screwed up by saying that. Alicia frowned and looked down at her lap, _"We think Gelimer gave her my power, what they drained from me while I was in the egg..."_ Demon hesitated as he said it, making Alicia look up at him with concern on her face. _"That may be a problem... a demon's power is far stronger then a humans is..." _Alicia got up and headed towards the door, _**"Where are you going?!"**_Xenon couldn't keep the slight yelp in his panicked tone from showing, Alicia looked back at him in surprise, he had yelled at her without meaning to, but he felt ashamed non the less. _"I'm going to where Luminous lives to see the full extent of the power for myself, if its to much I'll have to speak with Rhinne and her children about what to do"_ Alicia didn't wait for any replies, she was gone before anyone could speak.

"_This is troubling news, she's only a mere teenager... there's no way for her to control it if its to strong, what where they thinking!?" _Alicia was panicking the whole ride over from Edelstein, she wasted no time reaching the forest entrance where Luminous was just starting to head in, she almost ran towards him when she suddenly realized he had grocery bags, she had over heard Shade laughing about how ridiculous Luminous looked the day he followed Luminous into the forest after he had gone shopping, she didn't want to face the wrath of an angry mage. She slowly cleared her throat before calling out to him, _"Luminous!"_ she called in her calmest voice, he turned around and looked at her, his heart sank a little on the inside as he stared at her, _"Did they tell her?"_ he thought to himself, slowly raising a hand and waving to Alicia. _"Hi luminous dear, I'd like to... see what the forest and you home look like"_ Alicia had lied without noticing at first, the thought crossed her mind that she probably shouldn't come straight out with why she was there. Luminous gave her a slight frown, _"This..."_ Luminous stopped and realized that she still hadn't had the chance to travel many places since she was saved from Damien. _"Maybe she really only wants to see what the forest looks like"_ He slowly nodded and started walking into the forest, Alicia followed after him quickly.


	18. Ch4: Page 6

As they walked further into the forest Luminous's instincts kicked in, he stopped and turned to Alicia, _"There's a beautiful spring and waterfall not far from here, since you wanted to view the forest..."_ Luminous was worried why she was really there, Alicia had many chances to visit before then when ever the Cygnus Knights visited nearby towns, he didn't trust her completely. Alicia sensed that he hadn't trusted her, she felt sad that he didn't but she knew very well that she had lied, she was the one who gave him a reason to distrust her, _"Y-yes, I'd love to view it"_ Alicia quietly spoke, she slowly followed him towards the area, barely even listening to him _"What am I ding, I shouldn't be lying like this, its disgraceful..."_ Alicia felt guilty, but she wasn't sure what else to do either, telling him might put him in alarm but lying wasn't right.

"_We're here" _Luminous looked back at Alicia, snapping her out of her thinking, there was a large spring with a small waterfall stream flowing into it with flowers surrounding the entire spring, the way the leaves partially blocked the sunlight made the whole spring light up and glitter, Luminous was right, it was beautiful. Alicia smiled as she looked at it, she wished she could have just sat there forever and looked at it, but she had other matters to attend to, she reminded herself of that_ "So Luminous... how's life been out here?" _ Alicia glanced over at him noticing he had been watching her carefully. "Not bad, better then my past life" Luminous muttered, _"We should be heading out again" _Luminous said offering a hand out to Alicia, who gracefully accepted it and they walked back towards the forest's main path suddenly a large explosion went off, catching both of their attentions, they ran towards it, both wondering if it was Lotus, Luminous slid to a stop in front of his home with Alicia trailing slightly behind him, Lania was outside on the porch coughing from the smoke,_ "What happened here?"_ Luminous hastily asked trying desperately to keep a calm tone. _"The oven blew up Lumi"_ Lania managed to choke out before breaking into a coughing fit again, he felt like someone had beaten him with a nailed club, Luminous himself could hardly breath as he approached Lania to pull her away from all the smoke, his heart had skipped a few to many beats while he was running there.

"_Where's Lotus at?"_ Luminous said to before he realized Alicia was still behind him, he was breaking into a sweat from stress and all the running he had done through the forest. _"Lotus went out to get some materials I needed from the monsters, since I can't get them myself"_ Lania weakly smiled at Luminous, still ready to break out coughing again, Luminous sighed and patted Lania's head. _"Know where she went?"_ Luminous asked as he knelt down before Lania, _"a little north of here, where the King Slim is."_ Lania replied softly before passing out, _"Deary, it seems the smoke got to her, I'll stay here and watch her Luminous, you do what you must."_ Alicia took her from Luminous's arms and sat on the grass with Lania, Luminous nodded and ran off, _"King Slime can be a pain to deal with, if Lotus fights it then... Oh no" _Luminous squeezed his eye's shut tightly and ran faster, _"She could probably blow up the whole forest if she fights him!"_

Luminous was charging ahead without looking, he didn't see that Lotus was right in front of him coming back already, instead of saying anything her natural habits kicked in and she tripped him, Luminous fell face first into the ground, Lotus hesitated to approach him but she placed a hand on his shoulder as he was getting up. _"You alright?"_ She shot him a worried glance as he looked at her, _"I'm fine"_ Luminous smiled as he brushed himself off. _"I was more worried about you, King Slime can be difficult to deal with"_ Luminous laughed before hugging Lotus, she felt a strong urge to pull away from him quickly but she was exhausted from fighting the Slime, so she let him hold her for what seemed like forever before he let go of her and shuffled back a little before slightly blushing, _"I'm... glad"_ He smiled rubbing the back of his head with his spare hand, _"Lania blew up the oven while we where both gone so it might still be smokey"_ Luminous said as he started to turn and walk away, Lotus quietly followed him back to their home.


	19. Ch4: Page 7

"_So uh, what exactly did Lania have you collect Lotus?"_ Luminous was curiously staring at the extra bag he had lent her to carry the materials in, he had decided it was rude to make her carry everything home by hand, _"Things from the monsters around King Slime, and the __**Slime Shoe's **__King Slime itself had dropped when I beat it."_ Lotus had replied not looking back up at him, Luminous frowned slightly, he was hoping for a direct answer from Lotus so he could decide why Lania had her out. He could tell that Lotus was strangely quiet today, _"Perhaps she knows Alicia followed me here?"_ Luminous wondered, Lotus was sharp back when she and Orchid had worked with Black Mage, she always seemed to know when the hero's had shown up, perhaps she could sense the life force of them?

Luminous shook his head slightly, causing Lotus to look over at him. _"Now im spewing non-sense" _Luminous was almost cursing himself inside for being stupid enough to believe that Lotus could some how sense life force. _"She's only human, it might be different if she was like Demon or Mastema but she's not."_ Lotus watched Luminous carefully, it was getting hard to understand him sometimes._ "I can never tell what he's thinking when he acts suddenly, like today and last night..."_, _"and these powers... What will he think when he see's them?"_ Lotus felt a slight chill run down her spine as she looked up to see their home, Alicia felt Lotus's power from the distance they where at, she felt her heart sink slightly as she watched them approach._ "That power... no, she can't control it" _Alicia looked down at Lania who was still passed out, _"Oh what she can do to this child and Luminous..."_ Alicia looked back towards them, seeing Luminous playfully poking at Lotus and laughing, she felt something in her heart stop as she watched them both, _"Is it possible he...?" _Alicia smiled before waving to them, catching both of their attentions. _"Yes, I can see it"_ Alicia giggled, she had seen many others before doing it as well, she could tell there was love slowly blooming between them. _"I wonder how each will take it"_ Alicia slowly got up, careful not to disturb Lania, and walked over to them both, giving each a friendly smile.

Lotus lightly bowed in greeting and Luminous simply waved, they came and sat next to Alicia and Lania. _"She'll be alright?"_ Lotus asked softly, watching Lania gently breathing in her sleep, _"She'll be fine"_ Alicia chimed out happily, she hadn't expected that sort of reaction from Lotus, who she had assumed would still be cold mannered and dark, however the Lotus she was faced with today was gentle and caring, it thrilled her heart to see that. Lania slowly sat up now, coughing slightly again, Luminous cast a light spell on Lania helping to remove any remaining irritations in her throat, Lania smiled at everyone before looking at Lotus, Lotus had already known what she was going to ask, _"I got everything you asked for Lania"_ Lotus handed the bad over to Lania who gently whispered _"Thank you"_before accepting the items. "Now we can make it!" Lania lightly giggled, Luminous watched the girls wondering what they where making, _"So why did you need these items Lania?"_ Luminous asked curiously, _"Lotus knows how to sew! I asked her to teach me how to make a doll" _Lania was smiling widely, the others couldn't help but smile back. Luminous was happy, he hadn't known how to sew so he couldn't teach her himself, but she had always wanted to learn how to, _"Thats wonderful to hear! But I must be going now as well"_ Alicia said gently getting up _"I have a meeting with Rhinne, its about that time now"_ Alicia bowed her farewell and took off, the others waving to her from behind.

Lania, Luminous and Lotus headed into the house, Luminous waved his staff around breaking anymore heavy clouds of smoke and eliminating the remainder that didn't go outside the doors and windows, Lania eagerly unpacked the bag Lotus had brought back, _"Slime Shoes, Lupin pelt, Smooshy Liquid, Slime Bubble... PERFECT!" Lania_ was almost squealing with excitement, _"What in the hell are they going to make with those things..."_ Luminous didn't say it out loud but his expression was enough for Lotus to know what he was thinking, she simply laughed and continued helping Lania set up a sewing machine they had borrowed from **Grendel The Really Old.** Luminous shook his head smiling, then walked back outside, he decided to leave the girls to it and take a walk, maybe he'd go visit Elluel and talk to Mercedes, _"She should be home by now, I'll leave these girls to it."_


	20. Announcement! (2)

Announcement Time!

Ok so I was wondering what you guys think of this story so far, am I dragging it to slowly, you don't want it to be long (More the 46 pages), You like it how it is... Let me know in the reviews!

(I do prefer slow unfolding plot for stories like this but that's just me)

_**CHARACTERS**_

So ok, I'm adding in two newer characters at some point here, and I decided to kinda merge this story now. Not so much that it'll change the whole story but for more things, ect purposes...

I got into Wind Runner on Facebook, Leo nor my newer characters had nothing to do with the game, however I will use two of the characters from that game Kylie and Luke, (No copyright intended)

Imma throw in a short for Demon Slayer and Mastema, because they don't get much time in my story so far and Kylie is kinda like a demon in terms so yes... this fits into what im planning so yea, they'll join in a short section.

Stella, my friends Favorite character in her "Races Create" Art book, is a warrior Skyrie Dragon (another Spirit link), she wanted me to place her somewhere in this story so she's one of the two newer characters I was referring to, and Fox Demon Xiao, a large, dark navy blue pelted Demon Fox with Grey/White/Red markings.

That pretty much wraps it up for characters

And Again ~ !

I DO accept OC's or whatever, let me know either in game or through PM,

(Do NOT Write Suggestions In The Review Area!)

If you're contacting me through game, I play (GMS) Chaos/Yellonde server

My main characters are AlphaLeo (Chaos) and FoxDemonXiao (Yellonde)

I'm usually at the game hall playing One card or Monsteroply... Or Pqing so I can do "Tower Of Oz"

and if your not gonna find me in game, just PM me (private message) your idea's and what you might want to happen, characters/ect.

THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT!

That about wraps up this announcement, besides that I'm sad to say I have school starting up again on the 6th, so I'll be very busy with that. Fear not though, I will never abandon this story!

Mainly one might think "Oh I'm to busy now, I'll just dump this story"

NO! What do we writers write these stories for?! Certainly not for ourselves!

So fear not, I will not cut this off half way through just because I get lazy/to busy, at best it'll take me a while to get a new chapter out. Also I'm making a Deviantart account** JUST **for this story

(I already have one for myself but I don't wanna mix this story with my other stuff)

I'll let ya all know about that (links and stuff) next announcement, till then plz enjoy!


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